An Unwavering Promise--Completed

Chapter One

Eleanor’s POV

It was one of the few days in fall where the sun peaked out from behind the clouds and shone over the land. The leaves were beginning to turn and fall from the trees, creating a picturesque view of Autumn, even though it wasn’t officially that time of year yet. The rain had ceased for the time being, and I took full advantage of the moment. I had been buried in my office for far too long, and I needed to get out. Even Rae was restless, which told me that I either needed to go for a run or punch someone. Seeing as I was running out of people to purposely hurt in my life, I figured I needed to cool off with a run. Rae wanted to stretch her legs anyway.

So much had happened in the last year of my life. I had battled with the idea of having two mates, which thankfully turned out to just be two former alphas, Alpha Robert and Alpha Evan, screwing with me. I mean, it wasn’t great that they messed with my head and all, but I was glad that both were dead now. They got what they deserved, and it now meant that both Charles and I could lead relatively normal lives now. We had patched things up formally, and though our packs’ commitment to each other wasn’t as solid as it used to be, we were still on friendly terms. He even had a luna now and had sworn off scheming. His sole goal was to build the Golden Sunrise Pack back up properly without gaming the system. I held my breath about that, but hoped he would stick to his promises. At least his luna had a good head on her shoulders, or at least, that’s the sense I got when I briefly met her at their ceremony two months ago.

After the whole mate debacle, and having learned the truth that Alexander was my mate, we ran into even a bigger problem: The Master. The prick who had ruined my life and stolen the lives of my parents turned out to be none other than my own uncle. I learned a lot about him and his crazy vendetta. This took me on an entire trip where I discovered that dragons were in fact real. And not just that, but now I was a sacred member of the dragon race and had sworn loyalty and protection to the dragons. I had taken it upon myself to not only find my uncle’s twin, Nathan, who was the real threat behind freeing the Demon King, but I had also promised to find the long lost race of Orcs. To turn a long story short, I had a lot of work to do and not much to go on.

Nicholas had kept his brother’s whereabouts pretty hushed-hushed, not to mention that he moved all over the place in order to stay hidden. We had found his trail twice in the few months since saying goodbye to Raithor, the Lord of Dragons, but they had quickly gone cold. And, on the other hand, trying to find the Orcs was practically impossible. I was fairly sure I’d seen one back at a diner, but we hadn’t had any luck in locating that person. I was tired, angry, and totally done with locking myself in my office for 15+ hours a day. On top of these two quests, I had my pack to take care of. My Beta, Angel, had been amazing and stepped up, but she left me a lot of work to do due to my escapades.

I sighed, pushing all the thoughts out of my mind. Now wasn’t the time to fall into a deep hole of depression because I hadn’t achieved anything yet. I rose from my chair and cautiously opened my office door. Lately, there had been people lined up at my door, waiting to talk to me about “pressing” matters. Letting out a happy sigh of relief, I slipped out of the office and made a beeline for the door that led outside. I made it without anyone seeing me and ran for the forest’s edge. I then thanked the Moon Goddess for letting me get out unscathed and unseen.

Quickly undressing, I let Rae take over, who gave a low growl of approval. I shut my mind off as I shifted and quickly sank into the rhythm Rae set. Ignoring my problems and tasks was a much more tempting offer than actually dealing with everything that was currently on my ‘To-Do’ list.

It wasn’t long before Rae stopped in front of a beautiful waterfall. One of the best things about living in the Pacific Northwest was the greenery and natural beauty. I smiled to myself, soaking in the view. I even chuckled as Rae splashed around in the water, cooling off her fur from the long run. It was quiet and relaxing, so naturally, it had to be interrupted.

“Eleanor?” my mate’s deep, husky voice infiltrated my mind.

I sighed, knowing I shouldn’t ignore the mindlink, no matter how much I wanted to be left alone.

“Eleanor? Answer me. Seriously,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m here. What’s happening?” I shot back through the link, peeved that he was interrupting my run.

I loved Alexander. I really did. But, I also loved my alone time with Rae, where we simply ran into the forest and away from our issues. I wasn’t ready to face reality again.

Though I was nowhere near him, I practically felt him sigh with relief. “You’re going to want to come home. Hailey’s got something huge.”

That got my attention. Rae bolted for the new pack house, already ahead of my own sluggish brain.

“We’re on our way. Give us 10 minutes,” I said before cutting off the link so that I could focus.

Since Alexander and I were both alphas of our own packs, neither one of us thought the other should give up the title. Honestly, I didn’t think either of us could ever live without being an alpha. There was nothing wrong with lunas, but we weren’t cut out to take a step back and let go of our control. Thankfully, Alexander had obtained some land that bordered our own, so our mutual agreement was to join our packs in a solid alliance and build a pack house where our two lands met. This way, we could still have access to our people and be together. We had begun construction almost immediately after we got home from our last adventure, and once it had finished, we had mostly moved in. I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy seeing the people of both of our packs mingle and integrate. Our packs were still separate, technically, but our people could live in either territory and settle where they pleased.

Once I saw the top of the roof through the trees, Rae shifted back into human form. I found my clothes, put them back on, and then sprinted for the door. Alexander met me outside, and welcomed me with a huge smile. He then engulfed me in a hug.

“What’s happening?” I asked, confused. “I thought you had something for me.”

Alexander continued grinning. “I don’t, but Hailey does. Come on.”

“O-okay,” I stammered as he pulled me inside the house.

I followed, dumbfoundedly, until we entered our shared office. I then saw a very pregnant Hailey sitting on the sofa with Xavier protectively hovering over her as he sat on the arm of the couch. Both of them were smiling at me when we walked in.

“What’s going on?” I immediately questioned. “This is weird. Everyone’s being suspicious.”

Hailey giggled as she beckoned me over. “Just sit, and listen,” she commanded.

I sat in an armchair next to the couch and gave her my undivided attention. I couldn’t help but think that this had better be good since they were going through an awful lot of trouble to tell me.

“You put me on the case to search for the possible orc, right? Because I was there in the diner where the potential person was?” she began.

I nodded, “Yes, that’s right. Also, as a witch, I figured you’d have some skills we’d need–”

“Yeah, yeah,” she chirped, holding up a hand and cutting me off. “Well, turns out, you were right. True sight is pretty common with witches, so I asked around to see if anyone could back you up on what you said you saw.”

“What I know I saw,” I interjected tersely.

Hailey waved her hand in the air. “Yes, yes. What you know you saw. I’m on your side, Eleanor, and so are these other witches. They confirmed a sighting in Seattle of a person with a glowing, golden aura. Just like what you said. They said they have never seen anything like it, and thought they were going crazy! These two witches in particular have traveled the world and have never seen anything close to this before. So, it definitely goes along with what Raithor had mentioned: that orcs had disappeared and been banished or whatever.”

“Do they know where the orc went? You mentioned Seattle, but is she still there?” I asked.

“She was when I got off the phone,” Hailey said with a smile. “And I don’t know if she’s still there. The witches left to continue their vacation.”

I frowned. “Um, okay. I wish they hadn’t left, but I guess I can’t force them to go back. So there was a sighting in Seattle, but now we don’t know where she is. How does this help? We can’t go on a wild goose chase to a huge city where this person may not even be anymore!”

“Oh ye of little faith,” Hialey winked. “Do you think I’d bring you all the way here and not have something good for you? I had to build some suspense!”

My eyebrows shot up in anticipation. “Well?”

“I am a witch full of surprises, and I know a lot of people. With that being said, I have an address for our little orc, who happens to live in Seattle.”

“An address?! What?!” I shouted, jumping out of my chair. “Way to bury the lead! Let’s go! Why are we still sitting here?”

Hailey gave me a smile full of glee. “I’m already packed.”